Metal-rolling machine.



A. RIDD.

METAL ROLLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 0013.24, 1904.

Patented Nov. 3, 1908.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 1,

v a 1 a m 3 4 Inventor Witnesses 1"% Httomegs r14: NURRIS PETERS cm, wAsmuazuN, D c.

A. RIDD.

METAL ROLLING MACHINE.

APPLIGATION FILED 001. 24, 1904.

, 92,687, Patented Nov. 3, 1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

7H: NORRIS PETERS c0, wasnmcrON. n. c.

A. RIDD.

METAL ROLLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 00124. 1904.

Patented Nov. 3, 1908.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Witnesses Tm: NORRIS PETE/es ca., WASHINGTON, n. c.

AMBROSE RIDD, OF NEWPORT, KENTUCKY.

IVLETAL-ROLLING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 3, 1908.

Application filed October 24, 1904. Serial No. 229,796. 7

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AMBROSE RIDD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newport, in the county of Campbell and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Metal-Rolling Machine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to sheet rolling mills, and its principal object is to provide a mill for the manufacture of thin sheets of planished iron of that class known as Russian sheet iron. To successfully manufacture sheet iron of this class it is necessary that the rolls be heated, preferably to a dark cherry red, and that the temperature be practically uniform throughout the whole of the rolling surfaces of both rolls, so that the coating of oxid formed on the metallic sheet will not be injured, but will be condensed and planished. The relatively high temperature to which it is necessary to heat the rolls would, on ordinary rolls, heat the j ournals to such an extent as to injure them or destroy their bearings, and none of the sheet mills now in commercial use can operate practically at the temperature named. It is, also, found that in order to obtain the proper temperature, the rolls must be much larger in diameter than those in ordinary use, so that the large masses of metal may form heat reservoirs, and will not cool so quickly as the rolls of relatively small diameter now in common use in both tight and loose sheet metal rolling mills.

With these and other objects in view, as will more fully hereinafter appear, .the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportions, size and minor details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings 1-Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of a pair of rolls constructed and mounted in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, partly in section. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the mechanism. Fig. 4 is an elevation of the rolls showing the arrangement of the heating pipes. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective View of one of the roll adjusting devices detached.

Similar numerals of reference are em-. ployed to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The check plates are supported on longitudinal sills 11 and said sills are provided with grooves 12 having under out lower portions for the reception of the heads of securing bolts 18 that extend through the cheek plates and thus lock said cheek plates in adjusted position, this construction permitting of the use of rolls of any length within the limits of the sills. Each cheek plate is provided with a vertically extending recess 14 that is widened at the top for the reception of the cap 15 of the upper roll bearing, and said cap is held from upward movement by the employment of a plurality of screws 16 extending through threaded openings in the tops of the cheek plates, one of said screws being in the vertical plane of the axis of the roll and the other disposed on opposite sides of the central screw, the whole forming a very rigid and firm backing that will not spring or yield under strain.

The lower roll 17 and the upper roll 18 are preferably of the same diameter, and their journals 19 and 20, respectively, extend down through the openings in the cheek plates and are connected at one end by means of gears 2122, one pair of gears being ar ranged at each end of the journals in order to equalize the strain. The journal 19 rests on a bearing block 2 1 and above the top of the journal is a small bearing block 25 carried by the cap 15. On the opposite side of each of the journals is a recess for the reception of a side brass 28 having one face curved to bear against the ournal and the opposite face inclined; Against the inclined face bears the inclined face of a plate 29 that is provided with a lug 30 having a slot 81, and into this slot enters the outer portion of a bolt 32 that is provided with a pair of flanges 33, one of which bears against the outer face of the look and the other against its inner face. The threaded end of the bolt enters a threaded recess formed in the cheek plate and the outer end of the bolt is of rectangular or other form for the application of a suitable wrench by means of which the bolt may be turned and the position of the brasses adjusted.

The rolls 17 and 18 are of much larger diameter than rolls in ordinary use and the width of their rolling faces is somewhat less than usual, the ends of rolls being tapered from the ends of the rolling faces to the journals, and the construction being such that the rolling faces are disposed at some considerable distance from that portion of the journals in contact with the bearings. I

The inner faces of the cheek plates are provided with inwardly extending recessed brackets 40 in which are fitted cross pipes 41 having plugged ends, said pipes being connected by a series of semi-cylindrical perforated pipes 43 that extend partly over the rolls. The cross pipes 41 have flanged connecting pipes 4A through which a burning mixture is supplied, and in each of the curved pipes 43 is arranged a valve 45 which may be turned to regulate the size of the heating jets, or to heat only a limited portion of the roll. By this means the rolls may be heated to an extent sufficient to avoid any injury to the metal and the heating of the rolls may be accomplished without danger of overheating the brasses. It will be observed that the perforated gas pipes are so arranged that the rolls may be heated, and the temperature graduated from the center to the opposite ends of the rolls, or vice versa, without any sharply defined annular lines or bands of demarcation, which might result in cases where the heat is applied by jet pipes separated from each other by partitions. If the roll is to be hottest in the center, and of lower temperature at the ends, the full force of the gas is allowed to flow through the central perforated pipe, and at the next adjacent tubes the pressure is lighter, the pressure being gradually decreased toward the end tubes where there is comparatively little flame, so that the temperature of the rolls is greatest at the center and gradually diminishes toward the ends, or if the temperature is to be highest at the ends, as may be required in some cases, the pressure of gas at the end tubes is increased, and diminished at the central tube. The gear wheels 21 and 22 are detachably secured to the ends of the journals and may be removed when necessary in order that other gears may be substituted therefor.

In starting operations, and in some classes of work, the gears are of different size, thus as shown in Fig. 3 the upper gear 22 is of larger diameter than the lower gear 21, and as the rolls are of the same size the result will be a difference in the surface speeds of said rolls, the upper one lagging somewhat. This is taken advantage of in preparing the rolls for workfinasmuch as the difierence in speed will effect burnishing of both rolls and result in the production of a superior class of plates. The gears may be removed and gears of equal size substituted when the rolling operation is to be effected, but in some classes of work the gears of unequal size are edges materially reduced through constant engage-- ment with sheets of metal which may be at a lower temperature.

The rolls are so massive that comparatively little strain will be exerted on the journals by the roll adjusting screws or similar members, and the journals may, therefore, be made of comparatively small diameter. The journals are located at a considerable distance from the working surfaces of the roll, and the ends of said rolls are tapered in order to gradually reduce the cross sectional area of the rolls from the rolling surface to the journals, and as the mass of metal through which the heat may be conducted from the body of the rolls to the journals is reduced, the liability of over heating the journals is proportionately reduced, and it is found in practice that the rolls may be successfully. operated at a very high temperature without injury to either the journals or their bearings.

The advantages gained are apparent. By increase in the weight of the rolls, the friction between the journals and bearings, es-

pecially the upper bearing, is materially re-. duced, and the screws need not be tightenedto the same extent as where the rolls are light. The weight of the upper roll is im posed directly on the sheet being rolled, and

there is not the same tendency to spring, as

where a comparatively light roll is held down at its opposite ends by the pressure screws. The increase in size of the rolls conserves the heat, and at the same time permits of smaller journals, and the smaller the journals, the less the friction. The tapering of the ends of the rolls, also, permits radiation of the heat and reduces to a material extent the heat conducted from the body of the roll to the journals.

The gaspipes are distributed throughout the whole of the rolling surface, so that all of such surface may be heated, and as each of the gas pipes is provided with a large number of nipples or jet openings, the roll may be heated much more efiectively than by the application of single jets widely spaced in the length'of the roll.

Having thus described the invention,what is claimed is 1. In a hot mill, the combination with cheeck plates or supports, of rolls having continuous cylindrical rolling surfaces of large diameter and terminal journals of relatively small diameter mounted in said cheek plates or supports, the portions of the rolls adjacent to said journals gradually tapering toward said journals to form heat radiating surfaces between the active portions of the rolls and the journals to prevent overheating of the latter, and means independent of the stock treated by said rolls for heating the rolling surfaces or active portions of the rolls from end to end to maintain the same at a temperature equal to or in excess of that of the stock.

2. In a rolling mill, a pair of rolls and a plurality of perforated gas pipes partly encircling the rolls, said gas pipes being spaced from each other at equal distances throughout the length of each active rolling surface and provided With jets arranged to provide coalescing flames as a practically continuous sheet of flame against the active rolling surfaces from end to end thereof and separate means for controlling the flow of gas through the several tubes, whereby the active rolling surface may be heated to controllable extent Without demarcation into heating zones.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my oWn, I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of tWo Witnesses.

AMBROSE RIDD.

Witnesses H. N. HAWKINS, J. G. DEMASS. 

